Strokable liner hanger

ABSTRACT

A strokable liner hanger including a liner hanger having one of a polished outside surface and a seal disposed at an outside surface thereof, and a production casing having one of a polished inside surface and a seal. The production casing being complementary to the liner hanger. A strokable liner hanger arrangement in a wellbore including a production casing having one of a polished bore and a seal and a liner hanger in operable communication with the production casing. The liner hanger having one of a polished bore and a seal and being the opposite of the production casing. A method for completing a wellbore with a strokable liner hanger arrangement.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/052,919, filed May 13, 2008, the entire contents of which are specifically incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

Liner hangers are common in the hydrocarbon recovery industry and come in a number of sizes, shapes, and operational configurations. Each of these works well for its intended purpose but each also has drawbacks. Sometimes the drawbacks can become problematic and this is especially so when the hangers are used in applications for which they were not originally designed or when the environment of use changes due to changing landscape surrounding the industry as a hole. Often, liner hangers utilize a packer to act as a seal for the liner top. In some embodiments more than one packer is used for a single liner hanger arrangement.

SUMMARY

A strokable liner hanger including a liner hanger having one of a polished outside surface and a seal disposed at an outside surface thereof, and a production casing having one of a polished inside surface and a seal. The production casing being complementary to the liner hanger.

A strokable liner hanger arrangement in a wellbore including a production casing having one of a polished bore and a seal and a liner hanger in operable communication with the production casing. The liner hanger having one of a polished bore and a seal and being the opposite of the production casing.

A method for completing a wellbore with a strokable liner hanger arrangement including affixing a polished bore or a seal at a production casing location intended to engage a liner hanger, running a liner hanger into engagement with the production casing; the liner hanger having one of a polished outside surface or a seal and being complementary to the production casing and strokable therein, and disposing a no go at the liner hanger relative to a feature of the production casing thereby limiting stroke.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring now to the drawings wherein like elements are numbered alike in the several Figures:

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a strokable liner hanger system as disclosed herein;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of one embodiment of an arrangement as disclosed herein;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of another embodiment of an arrangement as disclosed herein;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of another embodiment of an arrangement as disclosed herein;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of another embodiment of an arrangement as disclosed herein;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of another embodiment of an arrangement as disclosed herein;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of another embodiment of an arrangement as disclosed herein;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of another embodiment of an arrangement as disclosed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 1, a portion of a wellbore 10 is illustrated comprising a production casing 12 and an open hole 14 extending therefrom. A liner 16 is represented schematically including one or more inflow control devices/screens 18 and one or more control and or monitoring lines 20.

A liner hanger arrangement is required to locate the liner properly. The inventor hereof has discovered that although liner hangers of the prior art are billed as seals, they do not function as such particularly in wells that have very high temperature gradients. This is particularly true in Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) wells due to the extremely high temperatures the steam brings to the liner 16. With the heat comes a substantial amount of thermal expansion of the liner. Because the liner is significantly more exposed to the heat than the production casing, the thermal expansion of the liner is correspondingly greater. This causes movement at the liner/ production casing juncture that movement being experienced directly between the production casing 12 and a liner hanger 24. Movement is necessary between these components of the well because the thermal expansions of the liner 16 and the production casing 12 are different but the same movement causes problems with respect to sealing of the liner hanger 24 to the casing 12.

To address the foregoing, a strokable liner hanger arrangement 26 is disclosed that allows for the movement of relative thermal expansion while maintaining a reliable seal between the production casing 12 and the liner hanger 24. Several alternate embodiments as illustrated in FIGS. 2-8 and described hereunder allow for longitudinal movement of the liner hanger 24 while maintaining a sealed condition with, ultimately, the casing 12. The precise dimensions of the polished bore, whether on the liner hanger 24 or the casing 12, is selected for the specific application taking into account the anticipated thermal expansion likely to be experienced.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3 two related but reversed configurations are illustrated. In FIG. 2, the production casing 12 (note FIG. 1) includes a collar 30. The collar 30 has at least a thread 32 to connect to the casing 12 and may include a thread 34 to connect to more downhole disposed structure (not shown). In this embodiment the collar 30 provides a polished bore 36 against which one or more seals 38 at an outside surface 40 of the liner hanger 24. In the reverse configuration of FIG. 3, a collar 42 having at least thread 44 and optionally thread 46 provides a seal 48 that may be configured as a seal stack as shown or may be other conventional seal configurations. In the particularly illustrated embodiment of FIG. 3, wiper rings 50 are also illustrated but it is to be understood that the use of the rings 50 is optional.

In both of the embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, the arrangement 26 will include a no go feature 52 at an uphole end of the liner hanger 24 that may be fixed and further will include a downhole no go feature 54 that is retractable and extendible. In these embodiments the downhole no go features 54 must be retractable in order to be able to pass through the polished bore (FIG. 2) or the seal stack (FIG. 3). In order for the no go 54 to have effect however, it must also be extendible. In each of FIGS. 2 and 3, the no go feature is illustrated as one or more dogs 56. For clarity the dogs in FIG. 2 are illustrated extended and in FIG. 3 are illustrated retracted. An exemplary system capable of retracting and extending one or more dogs is commercially available from Baker Oil Tools Houston Tex. under product family number 836-02.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, a very similar configuration is illustrated in a very schematic way to simplify understanding of the distinction. In these figures, rather than a collar, the polished bore 60 or the seal 62 are inserts in the casing string 12. In other respects these embodiments are similar to those of FIGS. 2 and 3. In the embodiments of FIG. 4 and 5 a separate sub is avoided.

Referring now to FIG. 6, another embodiment of a strokable liner hanger arrangement is illustrated having a casing mounted no go land 70 that functions in use to provide a positive land for both the uphole no go feature 52 and the downhole no go feature 54. It is to be recognized also that the uphole and downhole no gos are both located uphole of the seal or polished bore. A consideration for utilizing this configuration is the length of tubing between the no go 52 and the no go 54 to ensure that the stroke of the arrangement 26 is not in excess of the capability of the seal or polished bore to provide a seal against the arrangement 26.

Referring to FIG. 7, another alternate embodiment is illustrated that eschews the uphole no go 52 in favor of a single no go 54 that is receivable in a recess 72 in the casing 12. When the one or more dogs 56 are extended into the recess 72, both uphole and downhole movement of the arrangement 26 are limited. Similar to the FIG. 6 embodiment, the length of the recess 72 should be considered relative to the designed in stroke of the seal or polished bore to ensure that the seal to the arrangement 26 remains intact during use of the arrangement. This embodiment has the added advantage that the entire arrangement 26 could be run deeper in the well if for some reason that became desirable. This is because there is no fixed uphole no go 52 that would get hung if such running was attempted with the embodiments of FIGS. 2-6.

Referring to FIG. 8, an embodiment similar to FIG. 6 is illustrated. In fact the only difference between the embodiment of FIG. 8 and that of FIG. 6 is the addition of another retractable and extendible no go 76. This no go may be configured, in one embodiment, as is no go 54 identified above. As in the benefit of FIG. 7, the embodiment of FIG. 8 can also be run deeper than the intended depth of the arrangement as there is no fixed no go to hang up.

While preferred embodiments have been shown and described, modifications and substitutions may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the present invention has been described by way of illustrations and not limitation. 

1. A strokable liner hanger comprising: a liner hanger having one of a polished outside surface and a seal disposed at an outside surface thereof, a production casing having one of a polished inside surface and a seal, the production casing being complementary to the liner hanger.
 2. A strokable liner hanger arrangement in a wellbore comprising: a production casing having one of a polished bore and a seal; a liner hanger in operable communication with the production casing, the liner hanger having one of a polished bore and a seal and being the opposite of the production casing.
 3. The strokable liner hanger arrangement as claimed in claim 2 wherein the polished bore or seal of the production casing is disposed on a collar mounted in the production casing.
 4. The strokable liner hanger arrangement as claimed in claim 2 wherein the liner hanger includes a no go at an uphole end of the liner hanger.
 5. The strokable liner hanger arrangement as claimed in claim 4 wherein the no go is extendible.
 6. The strokable liner hanger arrangement as claimed in claim 5 wherein the no go is retractable.
 7. The strokable liner hanger arrangement as claimed in claim 2 wherein the liner hanger further includes a no go at a downhole end of the liner hanger.
 8. The strokable liner hanger arrangement as claimed in claim 7 wherein the no go is extendible.
 9. The strokable liner hanger arrangement as claimed in claim 8 wherein the no go is retractable.
 10. The strokable liner hanger arrangement as claimed in claim 2 wherein the arrangement further includes both an uphole no go and a downhole no go.
 11. The strokable liner hanger arrangement as claimed in claim 8 wherein at least one of the uphole no go and the downhole no go is a retractable and extendible no go.
 12. The strokable liner hanger arrangement as claimed in claim 2 wherein the arrangement maintains a sealed condition while allowing for longitudinal movement of the liner hanger relative to the production casing.
 13. The strokable liner hanger arrangement as claimed in claim 2 wherein the casing includes a recess receptive to an extendible no go of the liner hanger.
 14. The strokable liner hanger arrangement as claimed in claim 2 wherein the casing includes a no go land extending radially inwardly from an inside surface of the casing.
 15. A method for completing a wellbore with a strokable liner hanger arrangement comprising: affixing a polished bore or a seal at a production casing location intended to engage a liner hanger; running a liner hanger into engagement with the production casing, the liner hanger having one of a polished outside surface or a seal and being complementary to the production casing and strokable therein; disposing a no go at the liner hanger relative to a feature of the production casing thereby limiting stroke.
 16. The method as claimed in claim 15 wherein the disposing includes extending one or more no gos.
 17. The method as claimed in claim 16 wherein the method further includes retracting one or more no gos.
 18. The method as claimed in claim 15 the disposing is for at least one no go uphole of the polished outside surface or seal and at least one no go downhole of the polished outside surface or seal.
 19. The method as claimed in claim 16 wherein the disposing includes spacing the no go relative to other structures to limit stroke of the arrangement to a selected stroke of the arrangement. 